Repercussions
by Thomas River
Summary: AU. What would happen if TenTen became Naruto's friend after he graduated the academy?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter One: Well, that was unexpected.**

It had been an odd day and Tenten didn't know what to think of it.

Earlier this week her team had been assigned back-to-back C-rank missions. The missions themselves' weren't difficult, but when you have Guy-sensei leading your team, well, you can expect everything to be exhausting. Today, Guy-sensei was away on a solo mission, so she had the day off. When she told her parents this, her father asked her to help sharpen a shipment of kunai that just came in.

Naturally, she went shopping instead. First, she bought an herb-based perfume that would have-her-crush-fall-for-her-or-her-money-back-guaranteed, then looked at clothes, before ultimately ending up in the hot spring. There, Tenten made friends with many of the elderly, civilian ladies. They were all unnaturally kind, and Tenten found they were much less shallow than the girls her age. By the time she left the hot spring, her skin was so wrinkled she fit right in with them.

When she approached her house, she noticed light coming from the inside. Peering through a window she saw her giant of a Dad dressed in his old shinobi attire. He had been retired ever since he married Tenten's mother. The civilian woman wouldn't marry a ninja, so he gave it up and set up his own weapons store instead. When he was in his prime, he had been a weapons master, and favored the large, oversized katana he had strapped to his right hip. Black, tight clothing covered every bulging muscle on his body. The uniform wasn't quite complete, because he had to return his Chunin vest when he retired, however he had added a large weapon scroll tied to his back. This could only mean one of two things; either Konohagakure was under attack, or Tenten was in serious trouble.

Suddenly, her Dad must have sensed her chakra, because a roaring, "TENTEN!" could be heard from anywhere in fire country.

Dang. Konoha is safe.

Normally, Tenten walked when navigating Konoha, out of respect for the citizens. However, in emergencies such as this, rooftop hopping made for a much quicker escape. Remembering her training at the academy, she headed for the residential district. Hopefully, a crowd will help mask her chakra and allow her to "hide in plain sight." Unfortunately, the pressure got to her and when she couldn't find anyone, she dove into the Uchiha compound to hide.

Thank kami her Dad wasn't a tracker nin.

Tenten wandered the Uchiha compound, trying to make it to the side furthest from her house. When she finally left through a massive arch, she came across a small lake surrounded by trees. The lake was just off of Uchiha property, but being so far from town the once-great clan were probably the only ones to enjoy it. The water was perfectly calm except for some small ripples coming from a boy sitting at the end of a dock with his toes just barely touching the water. Her first guess was that it was the Uchiha boy, sitting all alone on the dock.

Her first guess was wrong.

The boy's yellow hair seemed to glow in the moonlight, but what was most surprising was the faint sound of sobs. Tenten wished she could get closer without the boy noticing, but he was surrounded by open water and the rickety, wooden dock. When the sound grew louder, she decided to risk letting her presence be know for the sake of offering the boy some comfort. Her father forgotten, she walked down the dock, wincing at every loud creak. When she reached the boy, she was surprised he hadn't made any sign that he noticed her. He hadn't moved except to hug his knees to his chest while rocking every-so-slightly.

"Hey." She began, trying to imitate the soothing tone her mom used when she was upset, "Are you alright?"

When he continued crying and didn't bother acknowledging her, she continued.

"Right, stupid question."

Still he didn't respond.

"I'll just have to talk for the both of us then. Hi, my name is Tenten, and I'm a kunoichi." She looked over and noticed he had a headband as well. "I guess your a ninja too then. From the looks of you I bet you're a fresh, new genin. I've been a genin for about a year now, but the chunin exams are coming up in a couple of months, and I'm hoping to enter and pass. My team has been training for it for awhile. Neji probably didn't need to wait a year to take the exams, but Lee definitely did. Lee has underdeveloped chakra coils, so he can only use taijutsu."

Seeing that this didn't seem to be helping she went with another tactic.

"I've had a crush on Neji ever since the academy days." She said with a wistful tone. "I was never obsessed with him, but he was a _genius_, and it's hard not to fall for strong, aloof men. Earlier today I bought this perfume that is supposed to guarantee that he falls for me. If that doesn't work, I'm going to give up."

The boy still hadn't given her the time of day, so she tried something else.

"It doesn't look like there's anyone around, so why don't we go into those trees for some training?" Finally, the boy turned to look at her. His bright blue eyes were red from crying.

"Training?" He whimpered.

"Yeah, just the two of us," she reassured him with a wide grin. "I'm a weapons specialist, so I'm sure I could give you a few pointers. When I'm through with you, you'll be the strongest ninja on your team."

"I'm already the strongest on my team. Believe it!" He beamed and slowly got up. After a few moments of him collecting himself, they set off. As the pair began walking to the woods, the tan boy continued. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's Number-One-Ninja and the next Hokage!"

Tenten chuckled, but wondered what it was that could make this incredibly confidant boy sob so terribly. Naruto was definitely not your typical preteen. Studying him, she found that she just _wanted_ to get to know the tan boy. He was so open and happy now, such a stark contrast from a few minutes ago.

"I've been a ninja for a couple of weeks now. My team, team 7, is lead by Kakashi-sensei, but he _never_ shows up on time and doesn't teach us _anything_. There's also Sakura, she's really smart and pretty, but she doesn't like me much and likes Sasuke-teme _way_ too much. He's the last member of our team, and just because he's an Uchiha he acts like he's too good for everybody" Naruto ranted. "Here looks like a good spot," he indicated the small clearing in the trees, "what weapon are we going to start with? Do you have a katana? That's the coolest ninja weapon, but they are too expensive for me to buy, and even if I saved up I wouldn't have anyone to teach me."

Tenten couldn't help but compare team 7 to her own. Sasuke sounded as prideful as Neji and Naruto as determined as Lee.

"Slow down. Let's start with a weapon you _do_ have. Something simple, like a kunai. Practice throwing them at a tree." Tenten chucked at Naruto's overly dramatic groan.

"But I already _know_ how to throw kunai."

The hours afterward proceeded to be full of relearning for Naruto. How he passed the academy Tenten would never understand. Everything about his form needed tweaking, and by the end his aim was _still_ atrocious. Naruto never gave up though, and after his initial complaints was solely focused on getting it right. As the night went on, Tenten realized the boy had incredible stamina. Nothing seemed to be able to tire him.

"I'm not going to lie to you, you've got a lot of catching up to do. But if we meet at the lake every night, I think we can get you on par in a month or two."

"Really?" An awestruck expression on his face. "You'd do that?"

"Of course, I'm not going to let my friend get himself killed because he couldn't throw a kunai properly."

A massive smile stretched across his face. "Hai!" Then his smile broke and was replaced with a timid expression. "Uh, Tenten? Thanks for helping me, but...I don't think we should do this again."

"What do you mean? Did I offend you somehow?"

"No...No..." All confidence left him at this point and Tenten was reminded of the boy on the dock. "Its just that, well, I don't know if it's safe."

"Safe?" She laughed, "I'm a ninja, Naruto, I think I can take care of myself. Why wouldn't it be safe?"

There was a long pause where she looked at him expectingly. An internal struggle seemed to be going on in the boy, before he eventually responded in a whisper so soft and sad that she barely heard it.

"...I'm...a demon..."

A demon. Normally, Tenten would laugh it off if someone told her that, but when he said it with his eyes downcast and with such emotion she couldn't help but believe him. No way such a sweet, innocent boy could be a demon though. She looked at him expectingly, waiting for him to continue.

"...Twelve years ago the Kyuubi attacked. They...They couldn't kill it. So, the Yondaime sealed it inside of a newborn...Me...the kyuubi is inside of _me_...I _am_ the Nine-tailed fox..."

Surprise colored Tenten's features. To seal something inside another person was unheard of, she didn't even know it was possible. But the most concerning thing was Naruto's interpretation of the sealing. Reaching down, she unclasped one of the scrolls from her side.

"Naruto?" She asked. "What does this look like to you?"

"Umm..." A thoroughly confused look marred his features. "A scroll?"

"Would you say its a weapon?"

"...No?

"No, its not. If I gave this to you, how would you treat it? Like a weapon? Or a scroll?"

"I'd treat it like a scroll," he yawned, "what's your point?"

Instead of answering, she opened it revealing a long list of symbols. Reaching out to one of the symbols, a kunai appeared in a small cloud of smoke. Naruto's eyes widened with surprise.

"W-What? How?" He stuttered.

"I'm a weapons specialist, but it's inconvenient to carry all my gear in person. So, instead, I use a sealing jutsu to store weapons in a scroll. It's just like your situation. Don't you see Naruto, you're not the weapon, you're the _scroll_!"

After a long pause he finally responded.

"Then why does everyone hate me!" He said angrily.

With a smirk Tenten jumped high into the air. Spinning, she unrolled the scroll and sent weapon after weapon into the tree they had been practicing on. Naruto watched with a new-found respect for the kunoichi. When she ran out of weapons, the brunette landed, the unraveled scroll at their feet.

"My mom is a civilian. I showed her that technique once I mastered it. She didn't understand how my scrolls work, though, and she immediately feared them. Not too long after, her fear turned to hate. Now, I can't even have them with me at the kitchen table, or she'll go on a tirade." A shudder went down Tenten's spine when she imagined her mom's twin buns disheveled, face bright red, and black eyes ablaze with anger. "Naruto, when people don't understand something, they fear it. And people hate what they're afraid of."

Watching, Tenten waited for her words sink in. The tan boy's face was scrunched in concentration, and it took awhile, but eventually he seemed to understand that _he_ wasn't the one with the problem.

"I think I get it." He finally responded. "...Where can I get one of those scrolls?"

Tenten laughed at his eager expression. "You have to make them yourself."

"Could you show me how? Please?"

After his intense pleading, she sighed, at least he wasn't dwelling on how the whole 'demon' thing anymore. "I _guess_ I could show you."

Pulling out a blank scroll, she explained the basics of sealing. "For basic weapons like kunai and shuriken, you just place the object you want to store on the scroll, and use the sealing jutsu." After alining her used weapons on the scroll, she showed him the hand signs. "The sequence is; Boar, Dog, Monkey, Snake, Ram." Watching closely, she noticed Naruto had a hard time remembering which seal was which. Tenten found that the only way for him to get it, was to guide his clumsy fingers through the each seal. Once he got that down, she continued. "A large, unique weapon will take much more chakra to store than smaller, generic ones, but the technique in general isn't too exhausting." Focusing her chakra, she preformed the jutsu and the weapons she had lined up slowly melted into the scroll. Once out of sight, kanji symbols appeared in their place. "When you get good at it, you can seal multiple weapons at a time. But, for practice you should just focus on one. To get the weapon's back, you just put your hand over the symbol of the weapon you want, and push forth a little bit of chakra to activate it."

Laying out another weapon, she let Naruto have a turn practicing the jutsu. Every attempt failed. He had the hand seals down, and she could feel the chakra coming from him, so the problem must be with control. Just before she stopped him to tell him he needed more practice for this jutsu, Naruto's face scrunched in a determined frown. chakra started pouring out of him at alarming rates, and into the scroll. At last, the shuriken he was attempting to store was replaced with a black kanji symbol.

"It worked!" He shouted. Tenten, for her part, wasn't sure if she was more surprised from the sheer amount of chakra he used or from his ability to use a jutsu with such poor control.

"...Hai...you did it. Good job Naruto. If you keep practicing you'll be able to store weapons with a fraction of that amount of chakra." She smirked as Naruto danced around the clearing. Tenten was just beginning to pack up when Naruto stopped her.

"Hey Tenten? Can I use this jutsu to store other things? Like could I store all my gear for long-term missions in a scroll?"

She smiled at him, glad he was thinking things through. "Hai, you can use this technique to store other things, but something that large and heavy is going to need a reinforced seal and a lot more chakra."

"Reinforced?"

"Hai, a seal with kanji symbols in a circle that help hold what you're sealing." She pulled out another scroll and unrolled it. "See here," she pointed to a large circle of kanji symbols. "I use this on missions if I ever have to carry something heavy. You can have it to study if you'd like, I can always make another. For sealing with this, you use the same technique, except you have to prepare the scroll beforehand."

"I can really have it?" He said with a look of wonderment in his eyes.

"Sure," she finished packing up."I'll see you tomorrow at sunset, Naruto, be ready to train."

Walking away, Tenten almost missed Naruto's whispered words of thanks. She couldn't help but think they were for more than just the scroll. Smirking, she left for her home. Light was starting to break the night, and she winced knowing she would only get a few hours of sleep. Guy was going to be back and expecting them bright and early. Neji would likely train by himself and Tenten would be stuck with Guy and Lee again.

Upon her arrival, the front door squeaked loudly as it revealed Tenten's irate father. Without a word, he lead her to their small weapons shop in the center of konoha. The shop wasn't large, with just one room displaying different weapons and a locked back-room where larger shipments were kept. Resigned to her fate, she sat on a large box and began to sharpen kunai with her father.

"Hey Dad?"

No response.

"What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?"

He looked up, a startled expression on his face, "Why?"

"I know that the Kyuubi is sealed inside him."

His eyes widened comically. "Did your mother tell you that? You can't tell anyone, they'll throw her in prison if anyone finds out." At Tenten's smirk he continued. "Don't you understand how big a deal this is!" His voice was loud and intimidating.

"Relax Dad, he told me himself."

"He what? But how does he even- Mizuki. That's what happened to him, he told Naruto."

"I don't know how he found out, but Naruto thought that he _was_ the demon, I had to show him my scrolls to prove that he wasn't a monster."

"How? When?"

"Where do you think I've been Dad?" She smirked, he wouldn't notice if she tweaked the truth a little. "He was sobbing so hard, Dad. I had to cheer him up, and the only thing that worked was training _all day_ with him."

"Then why did I sense you come home earlier."

Quickly, Tenten tried to come up with any connection between Naruto and her home. Something, anything, that would make a convenient lie. "Your katana." She began, "when I offered to help Naruto with weapon combat, he wanted me to teach him to use a katana, because they are the 'coolest ninja weapon.' I figured I would show him yours because he liked them so much."

A slightly skeptical look crossed his face, so she quickly changed the subject.

"Do you hate him?"

"Naruto?"

"Hai, the whole town seems to think like Mizuki. I wanted to start helping him more often, and maybe introduce him to you."

"I don't have anything against him, but don't let your mother find out you are spending time with him...you know how she is." He sighed. "Go home and try to get some sleep before you meet your team tomorrow."

"Alright Dad!" She beamed and ran off.

When she got home, she only got an hour of sleep before having to go meet up with her team.

Gui-sensei worked them to bone, "helping" them improve their speed. Tenten would never be as fast as Lee, but, because of the training, she was faster than the average kunoichi. Team Guy would be taking fewer and fewer missions in the next few months to prepare for the upcoming exams. Hopefully, this would free up enough time for them to master the techniques they were working on: Lee and the hidden lotus, Neji and his rotation, and Tenten with her twin rising dragons. By the time the day ended there were bags under Tenten's eyes, and she itched to return to the hot spring and her elderly friends. The sun was already setting, though, so she begrudgingly made her way to the lake where Naruto was waiting.

"Oi! Tenten! You look terrible."

"You're quite the charmer, aren't you Naruto? Do anything exciting today?" She asked as they made their way into the woods.

"Just got another D-rank." Naruto grumbled. "We spent all day weeding gardens."

"Isn't it fun being a genin? No exciting missions. But, once we perfect your aim you might be ready for a C-rank. Well, actually I've only seen your weapons skills and your attempt at sealing, how are you with Jutsu?"

"I can do shadow clone, transformation, and substitution jutsu. Believe it!"

"Shadow clone?"

At that Naruto began to tell her his struggles with the clone technique, and what happened in the forest with Mizuki and Iruka. By the end of the story Tenten was torn between anger and confusion. Shadow clones take huge amounts of chakra. Naruto being able to use it _and_ being the Kyuubi's vessel couldn't be a coincidence.

"Naruto? Can I see your seal?"

"What?" A thoroughly confused Naruto responded.

"Have you ever seen a seal somewhere on your skin? I think your seal must be tied to your chakra network. If that's true, then your entire life your chakra has been helping suppress the kyuubi, and that would explain why you have so much more chakra than the average person. It could also explain why chakra control is hard for you. You said the seal was placed on you when you were a newborn, so you would have been too small to have it on a limb. Most likely it's on your stomach or back."

When he looked at her as if she'd grown a second head, she ordered him to strip off his jacket and focus his chakra. After he complied, Tenten began to exam the seal that appeared on his stomach. Her earlier fatigue replaced with the excitement of looking at the work of a seal-master.

"Figures. I've never seen these seals before." She studied it a bit longer. "There are two seals. First," she pointed to the inner symbol, a swirl, "this seal has something to do with chakra. I'm not really sure, but I think it is locking the Kyuubi's chakra coils. It's different from the sealing technique I showed you before, because it has no kanji symbols. And this one," she motioned to the more complicated seal surrounding it, "seems to be suppressing the first, almost like a back up. The Yondaime sure new what he was doing. Oh! But look here!" She pointed to where the opening of the inner coil was aligned with a gap in the outer seal. "This has got to be it! For some reason, the Yondaime left you a link to the Kyuubi's chakra. It would have been so simple and easy to cut you off from it completely. Why would he have left you that link?" After pondering for a moment, she decided: "He must have wanted it to strengthen your chakra, he must have wanted you to become an incredible ninja. But why would he-"

She stopped and stared at him with a mixture of astonishment and awe.

"Naruto? Who are you're parents?"

Naruto's baffled expression quickly morphed into one of pain.

"I-I don't know. The old man told me my mom died in childbirth, and that my dad died the same day."

"I'm sorry, but have you ever noticed how you have an uncanny resemblance to the Yondaime?"

"A _what_?"

"Naruto, I think the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was your father."

He stuttered for awhile, not making any coherent words.

"You could just be a nephew," she quickly added, "But I've always heard that he was the last of the Namikaze line, an only child. Tomorrow when your team goes to get another mission, ask the Hokage, he would know. From your descriptions, Kakashi-sensei doesn't sound like the most reliable man to ask."

"H-Hai"

Wanting to get Naruto back to his normal, happy self, Tenten decided to change the topic to something more productive.

"So," she began, "Could you show me that shadow clone jutsu?"

After a moment he responded. "Hai!" He arranged his fingers into the crossed clone seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four replicas of Naruto appeared in puffs of smoke.

"Show off." She muttered as she pinched and poked each Naruto.

"Oi. You don't see me poking you." One of the clones protested.

"Yeah! Stop it!" Another agreed.

"How does it work?" She interrupted, "If I tell one clone a secret, do you all know?" At Naruto's confused look she took a clone off to the side and whispered in his ear. "You smell."

"No I don't" The clone objected. Seeing that none of the other clones responded, she came up with another idea. Quickly, she stabbed the clone with a kunai, dispersing it.

"Hey!" The chorus of shouts from the remaining Naruto's didn't surprise her, but when she saw them self-consciously sniffing themselves, she let out a small cheer.

"That's so cool! Don't you see Naruto, if one of your clones learns something, when he disperses the real you remembers learning it! We can use this to help you train faster!"

Tenten had no doubt that Naruto didn't understand most of what they had been talking about, but when she talked about training he visibly brightened. They proceeded to work on Naruto's aim, using clones to speed up the training. Currently, he could make about twenty clones before exhausting his chakra, but Tenten figured if they worked on his chakra control, they could improve that number greatly.

An owl's hoot startled her out of her musings. It was late, really late. The trees around the small clearing were scarred from kunai and there were only a couple of clones left.

"Let's call it a night." Tenten said, "you're improving much faster than my first guess."

He beamed back at her, and put one hand behind his head, a light blush touched his cheeks. "You're a great teacher Tenten. I really like training with you."

Tenten quickly turned away before he could see her own faint blush. "Good night Naruto, be ready for more training tomorrow."

"Hai!"

"Oh and Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You really do smell."

**Author's Note (Important)**

**Repercussions (This story) is one of many stories I am posting. I will ONLY CONTINUE ONE. To determine if I will continue this story, or one of my others (Currently I have only posted Undercover Prodigy), I will count up the number of reviews/follows/alerts and only continue the one that gets the most. All stories have been roughly outlined, and the first chapters to each story are already completed and will be posted.**

**So, if you want this story to continue. Review and say so! Also, please tell me what I did poorly and what I did well. I would like to improve, and you can help.**

**This story is AU. Currently, there are no pairings. If you would like there to be a pairing, I will have a poll further on in the story for that. Naruto will not be grossly over powered in this fic, and if I don't complete it I will post my outline.**

If you haven't noticed, the story begins after episode 5 (You Failed! Kakashi's Final Decision) and before episode 6 (A Dangerous Mission! Journey to the Land of Waves).


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